In an appearance on ABC's The View,
Cooper said he first came out to friends and family in high school
but kept quiet publicly because his work as a CNN correspondent often
takes him to places where violence against gay people is routine.

“I wanted a certain amount of privacy
in my public life,” he said. “Also I travel to a lot of very
dangerous areas. I started as a war correspondent traveling by
myself. And I didn't want to do anything that would add danger. I
traveled to a lot of places where they kill gay people, and still
continue to kill gay people. You know, Iraq, Afghanistan.”

“But I also got to the point where I
feel as a public person there is a responsibility to send the message
that I'm very proud of being gay, I couldn't be happier being gay,
and that you can be successful and you can be happy. And for those
of us in public life, I just think it's important to make that
statement.”